Chapter 304: I’ll show my worth
Ironclaw ripped out of the shadow tendrils that held him bound, he locked eyes with Aren, who he already knew was the strongest.
"Lucy, help me out," Aren said. She was the only one that he trusted to have the strength to go against a patriarch, but in that moment, she lunged at the demon who was trying to get away, not caring about the situation that they were in, she only wanted to make sure that the demon didn’t manage to do what he wanted to do.
To Lucy, the gates of the abyss were far, far worse than whatever was happening now.
’Fuck this’
Aren stepped forward. "All of you stand back, I’ll handle this." His tone was calm and very collected, like he knew what he was doing perfectly.
"Aren, that’s a patriarch of a royal family, even for you that’s too much," Kira said.
"Kira, stand back," Aren repeated, and then summoned his ancient devourer in his right hand and his wolf guard in his left. He summoned his dark armor and shadow armor, then he proceeded to summon Riker and Fang first. The spike was his first attacking force, and he would make sure that he used them to wear down the enemy.
Ironclaw looked at Aren and then smiled. "So you are the Shadow, pretty crazy for the system itself to gift you such a name, even the Wargod didn’t get his name so fast, you would have become something greater if you had just listened."
Ironclaw then took a step forward, and the entire ground trembled, cracks formed across the ground.
"First stage unlocked," he muttered, and immediately massive hands made of earth and rock ripped out of the ground, reaching as high as fifty feet into the air, there were over twenty in total.
At this point, no words needed to be said, all that was needed was battle.
Aren shut his eyes for a moment, and then they opened. He lunged forward at breakneck speed, the wind pressed hard against his face like it wanted to rip him apart, but his gaze remained steady as he pushed himself to go even faster.
Ironclaw pointed forward, and one of the hands moved, swinging downward, about to squash Aren into the ground. Fang rushed at the hand and unleashed an attack that slammed into it and blasted it into smaller rocks, allowing Aren to run through.
His shadow sense scanned around and saw that the other hands were already heading his way, and as for the hand that was blasted, it was already reassembling.
"This is not going to be easy, getting close to him will be a hell of an effort, after all he is one of the most powerful beings in the domain."
He gritted his teeth and continued his push, he summoned multiple wyverns that immediately filled the sky, they began attacking the hands and blasting them into nothing.
The hands regenerated fast, but Aren had managed to force an opening, and so he took it, he rushed through and leaped into the air, slashing down at Ironclaw, input for a pillar of rocks to shoot up with a sharp tip and stab into Aren.
"Ack," Aren coughed blood as he was hurled up into the air, his eyes went blurry for a moment.
"That spike was so fast that my eyes were unable to follow it for even a second, my shadow sense didn’t pick it up at all, such power."
While he was in the air, Ironclaw looked at him and then smiled, two large hands swung to slam into Aren, and at the same time multiple spikes fired at the group who were standing there.
This distracted Aren, he turned to look at them for a split second, Kira stepped up and planted her palms into the ground, an ice wall rose and blocked the attacks, a few still blasted through and slashed her shoulder, blood gushed out immediately.
All this distracted Aren, and the two large hands slammed him closed like it was killing a mosquito.
"Aren!" Everyone screamed at the top of their lungs.
Rumble!
Aren used shadow tendrils from inside the hands and pushed the rock hands away, and at the same time he instructed Riker to attack Ironclaw.
He broke through the hands and was free in the air, Riker at the same time went for a slash, Ironclaw leaned back and proceeded to punch Riker in the gut and sent him flying.
He shook his hands after sending the shadow flying.
Aren came from above and already pulled his arms back for an attack, he slashed downward with everything that he had, Ironclaw looked up.
"You are indeed strong, but there is one issue, you are facing me," Ironclaw declared, and suddenly all the earth that he had created and was controlling suddenly turned to metal, their shape turned sharp, and all of them were immediately hurled at Aren at the speed of full-powered rockets.
Aren could sense each one coming at him, and he knew that if the attacks hit, his armor would only go so far, but even then he kept his attack.
"Arghhhhhhhh!" He roared as he started slashing through them as fast as he could, his wyverns also started attacking the spikes as well with their blasts and their claws to help Aren and ensure he reached Ironclaw.
[...]
"I’m not standing and watching anymore." A few seconds after she had blocked the attacks that headed their way, Kira declared, a new type of fire burned in her heart.
This was the ultimate setting, the only place where Aren needed their help more than anything else now, and they were standing and watching, she was not going to allow that, her body refused it, her mind did too as well, everything about her rejected being this useless.
"I’m with you, I know I can do something regardless of what Aren said," Aiden said, his impulsive way of living took control, he didn’t want to be relegated to the sidelines anymore.
"I understand that Aren wants to protect us all, but I’m an awakened myself, I’ll not be protected all my life." After saying that, he stepped forward and Kira followed behind, Athena and Zero looked at themselves, and then Zero smiled before following, Athena finally followed behind, forcing a resolute look, she wanted to be confident and she wanted to show Aren that she was deserving of everything that he had done for her.
Each one of them here wanted to fight, but not for the reasons one would think normally, but rather for Aren, each one of them had their lives saved by him, and they all wanted to pay him back somehow, and now was the time.
"Let’s focus on attacking when we get the chance or helping Aren get the chance to land a better attack," Aiden said, he took the lead, charging ahead first, after all he was the close-ranged fighter of their group.
"You’ve carried me along since that day that we met, that day we killed wolves, and now, now we take down gods and ensure that they can never stop us anymore.
You have showed me that there is more to my life and have given me more chances than I am worth," Aiden said as he rushed ahead, his sword glowed with a blue light.
"I’LL SHOW YOU THAT YOUR EFFORTS HAVE NEVER BEEN IN VAIN, MOUNTAIN SPLITTING SLASHHHHHHH!"
Aiden roared as he slashed, and a massive blue sword arc ripped through the air, it ripped into the ground and rose twenty feet tall with ease, heading right for Ironclaw.
"First we were friends and then lovers, I wanted you for me alone, even though it could never be, you are not someone I can hold to myself, you were made to lead and be followed by many, sadly I wanted to be more but fate said no.
Even then, I’ve never stopped the love that I have for you, it’s the flame that keeps me going, and right now, facing the greatest odds of our life, I’ll show you Aren, I’ll show you that I have grown and I am worthy of standing by your side now and forever.
DARK ICE LANCE."
Kira formed a massive purple ice lance, one that reached over thirty feet long in the air, and then she hurled it at Ironclaw.
"You made me a promise, that I’ll find my mum, you are the only person that ever showed that much interest in me, the only person that ever cared and the first experiment I genuinely loved doing, that was being with you.
I’ll make sure you come out of this alive because I need you to.
SPACE RIP."
Zero unleashed a massive tear in space, it ruptured everything around her as it rushed towards Ironclaw.
"I need you, you’re my only remaining family, and for that reason I’ll fight."
Athena unlocked her third eye and even her spatial eyes, unleashing a chaos attack driven by her love for Aren.